1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer software programs and databases to be used in Financial Service Organizations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for configuring a Financial Service Organization (FSO) production system database.
2. Description of the Related Art
FSOs such as banks, credit unions, etc., use computer systems running software programs to process FSO transactions. The FSO systems may include one or more databases for storing data. The databases may include groups of data such as the master files of customer account information, transaction-related data such as customer credit card purchase transactions, processing-related data such as the processing parameters used in processing transactions including charges to merchants for processing credit card transactions, and history data such as log files of daily activities for batch processing.
The processing parameters used by the FSO system in processing transactions, may be embedded in the source code of the FSO system software programs, or the processing parameters may be stored in one or more tables in the FSO system database. Processing parameters may be used to apply business logic to the transactions during processing. A processing parameter may have different values for different transactions based upon one or more attributes of the transactions. For example, the processing parameter values used in processing a customer credit card transaction made at one department store may be different than the processing parameter values used in processing a customer credit card transaction made at a different department store. Attributes of a transaction may be defined by one or more data elements in the transaction or one or more data elements in a master file associated with the transaction. The attributes could be, for example, the name of a bank issuing the credit card to the customer, or the type of credit card (e.g., gold, platinum, etc.). The FSO system may examine the values of one or more data elements (e.g., gold, platinum, etc.) in the transaction data or master files to determine the value of a processing parameter for the transaction. A set of data elements useable to determine the value of a processing parameter for a transaction may be referred to as a key definition for the processing parameter. Data element values may be extracted from a transaction data set and an associated master file by using the data elements in the key definition to locate the data element values. The data element values may be combined to form a key value for the processing parameter for the transaction. Data elements used in a key definition may be referred to as key elements.
Key definitions and the instructions for constructing or preparing key values are hardcoded in the source code for the FSO system software programs. Modifying the key definitions and the instructions for constructing key values from the key definitions involves modifying the source code for all software programs that use the key definitions and the instructions for constructing the key values, recompiling and relinking the programs, reinstalling the software programs, and possibly modifying a system data dictionary and database structure used by the software programs. If the software programs are used by more than one FSO, and if one of the FSOs requires customized key definitions, customization of the key definitions and instructions for constructing key values for one of the FSOs requires creating and maintaining a customized copy of the source code for the software programs.
In some FSO systems, processing parameters and corresponding key values used to identify and select the processing parameters may be hardcoded in the source code for the FSO system software programs. As an aside, prior FSO systems construct key values and compare the constructed key values to key values embedded in the hardcode in order to find a match. When a match occurs, the corresponding processing parameter is subsequently used in processing the transaction. Modifying the processing parameters and corresponding key values for these systems may involve modifying the source code for all software programs that use the processing parameters, recompiling and relinking the programs, and reinstalling the software programs. In other FSO systems, the processing parameters and corresponding key values may be stored in the FSO system database. In these systems, the processing parameters and corresponding key values in the database must be synchronized with the key definitions and instructions for constructing key values in the source code. Modifying the processing parameters and key values in the database may also require modifying the source code and rebuilding the programs as described above.
As a result of the hardcoding of processing parameters and keys, FSO systems are not flexible in the configuration and use of processing parameters. Any modification to the hardcode must be made by one or more people with sophisticated educational backgrounds and a sufficient understanding of the FSO system. Moreover, the time needed to implement and test modifications to existing FSO systems makes it difficult for FSOs to respond to rapidly changing business strategies.
The following is, hereby, incorporated by reference: Data retrieval method and apparatus with multiple source capability (U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,694), Graphical user interface for relating key index properties to database table columns (U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,218), Index managing method in database managing system (U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,058) and Relational database management system for chemical structure storage, searching and retrieval (U.S. Pat. No. 5,950,192).